Jordan Godbey01 August 2024

How to make $10k/month from a community - Jordan Godbey

5Frameworks

15Insights

Frameworks in this episode

Entrepreneurship7 steps

Insights & moments

The myth-busts, hot takes, explainers, and tools worth keeping.

Myth Buster· 2

Myth Buster03:30

Community is a vehicle, not a magic bullet

Godbey pushes back on the trend framing communities as a get-rich-quick vehicle. Community is now the hot topic — which platform, what to charge — but by itself it solves no problem. Like affiliate marketing and drop shipping before it, it attracts people hoping for returns without skills or experience. Community is transparent: you work directly with members, so if you have nothing valuable to offer they discover it very quickly. What it does is amplify value you already have, for example fixing the isolation that stops people finishing a course.

“But community by itself doesn't actually solve any problems. It's not just a magic bullet or magic wand.”
Jordan Godbey · 03:30

“So, community does not just magically solve a problem.”
Jordan Godbey · 04:00

Myth Buster29:30

There is no passive path to $10k/month

Ali raises the obvious objection: communities sound like a lot of work compared with a self-paced course and hashtag passive income. Godbey agrees and goes further — very few passive income mechanisms work, especially for beginners as a first venture. He recommends active income first, then productising once you have following, expertise and notoriety. He has never met anyone who built a website or app that simply started paying them. Ali notes every episode in this series arrives at the same punchline: whatever the business model, it is work.

“For me, I think active income is the way to start.”
Jordan Godbey · 30:00

“But the dream of just putting up some type of website or finding some kind of app that's just going to start paying you money…”
Jordan Godbey · 30:00

Hot Take· 2

Hot Take25:30

Chase your ghosting students — they'll thank you for it

Using Premium Ghostwriting Academy as the example, Godbey describes aggressive follow-up as a feature of transformational programs. If a member disappears, the team emails and DMs until they respond. Creators worry about annoying people, but he says over ninety percent of the time the reaction is gratitude — 'I've been really busy, thanks for checking in, I'll be on the call Wednesday'. His argument: if you care about student success, testimonials and case studies, people have to show up, and with no skin in the game and nobody looking for them, members simply disengage.

“If you're going through this program and you just all of a sudden ghost and disappear, they will follow up with you. They will email,…”
Jordan Godbey · 25:30

“students, members, customers are so grateful that somebody cares and that somebody is checking in”
Jordan Godbey · 26:00

Hot Take48:30

Pricing is a psychology game at every level

Godbey calls pricing the number one challenge for newer entrepreneurs because it entangles identity, credentials and self-worth. Ali recounts a nineteen-year-old Cambridge medical student too embarrassed to admit he charged £45 an hour for tutoring — while someone else he knows charges £500 an hour tutoring for a wealthy family. Meanwhile entrepreneurs doing $10m+ laugh at Ali's $1,000 price the same way he laughed at £45. Godbey's parallel: a £450 designer white t-shirt is still cotton, but people feel something wearing it and buy it happily.

“It's like I'm making 15 dollars an hour working minimum wage. How is it possible that one of your hours is worth a hundred of…”
Jordan Godbey · 48:30

“How is this white t-shirt 450 pounds?”
Jordan Godbey · 49:00

Explainer· 2

Explainer06:30

Audience vs community: the distinction most creators get wrong

Humans have had communities forever; what is new is the online layer and, in the last few years, dedicated software platforms for it. Godbey draws a hard line between an audience and a community: followers on LinkedIn are an audience. A community requires people to be bought in — they opted in, purchased, or signed up and declared themselves a member. Practically, that means a private, dedicated online space designed to facilitate member-to-member interaction, founder engagement, and delivery of resources and curriculum.

“A lot of people say, "I already have a big community on LinkedIn." It's like, "No, you really don't. You have some followers, you have…”
Jordan Godbey · 06:30

“So, that's what we're really talking about is creating a private space that is online, that is dedicated and designed just to facilitate member-to-member interaction”
Jordan Godbey · 07:00

Explainer22:00

Why nobody finishes your course — and what to do instead

Most people have bought online courses they never completed and some they never even logged into. The sales page is exciting; the follow-through is not. Godbey's point to course creators: if you pour everything into building the best course and roughly one percent of customers get results, that is a real problem. The fix is putting the course inside a community and focusing on implementation rather than more content. People get stuck when the video looks simple and their attempt does not work — alone in a room with a textbook, there is no way to get unstuck.

“So, the problem with online courses is that very, very few people actually”
Jordan Godbey · 22:00

“Nobody needs more information. We want a shortcut.”
Jordan Godbey · 23:00

Story· 2

Story19:30

Paying $10k, then $1k/month: how Jordan climbed one creator's ladder

Ali floats the accusation that Dustin Riechmann hooked Jordan cheaply then upsold him. Jordan corrects it: the first program cost $10,000 — the most he had ever paid for anything — with a promise of ten-times return, building a lead pipeline via podcast appearances. After the ninety-day program he was invited into the mastermind with other graduates. He justifies the credibility: Riechmann had done it repeatedly himself, was on his eighth or ninth cohort of ten-plus people, and had built a meat snacks company that landed a seven-figure Walmart contract off podcast appearances.

“He sold me from the expensive thing to the more expensive thing.”
Jordan Godbey · 19:30

“Uh so, the first program was $10,000 and that was the most that I've ever paid for anything.”
Jordan Godbey · 20:00

Story37:30

Designing Productivity Lab: 'Peloton for productivity' at $1,000/year

Godbey says the first couple of months went into the design phase — deciding whether it was an entrepreneur or professional product, and what the offer actually was. Ali's internal market research landed on Peloton or CrossFit for productivity: nobody wants another course, but people will show up to a facilitated weekly review or co-working session they never do alone. He deliberately avoided $9 and $30 monthly tiers as unmanageable at volume, and reasoned backwards from a $5–10m target: 5,000 members at a thousand a year. The trade-off accepted up front was that small-group intimacy would not be the point.

“we landed on, you know, this idea of Peloton for productivity, or like CrossFit for productivity.”
Ali Abdaal · 38:00

“I would love for this to be a 5 to 10 million a year thing and if we price it at a thousand a year,…”
Ali Abdaal · 40:00

Q&A· 3

Q&A07:30

Why would anyone pay for a community? Isn't it a bit of a scam?

Ali asks the sceptical question directly. Godbey's answer: we pay for communities constantly — private newsletters, private groups, clubs, religious groups, sports leagues, fantasy football. People want to be with others who share their interests, visions, challenges and goals. The example he keeps returning to is someone trying to leave a nine-to-five: at work you cannot say you want out, but in a private space you are surrounded by people who read the same books and watch the same videos. If the community is led by someone doing what you want to do, you also get mentorship instead of being stuck when a book's advice fails.

“Well, uh I think we pay for communities all the time, right?”
Jordan Godbey · 07:30

“So, it's like maybe you feel really misunderstood because everyone around you in your day job loves the day job.”
Jordan Godbey · 08:00

Q&A41:00

Members want small accountability groups — should you build them?

Four weeks into the launch, members are asking for smaller groups: a Zoom call with fifty people does not create accountability, but a group of five setting weekly goals does. Ali's history is instructive — self-organised groups in the YouTuber Academy fell apart when one person was unreliable, while groups of eight to twelve facilitated weekly by a customer success coach worked well, in a $5,000 offer. Godbey names the tension: this is high-ticket delivery on a low-ticket price. His alternative is letting members opt in as vetted group leaders on a fixed three-month commitment.

“they don't feel that much accountability being on a Zoom call with 50 people, but they would feel way more if they had an accountability…”
Ali Abdaal · 41:00

“So this is where I feel like you're in a little bit of an awkward spot where I said that you are pricing it at…”
Jordan Godbey · 42:30

Q&A1:09:00

Restructuring the YouTuber Academy: one outcome, two paths

Ali workshops his plan live: convert the $1,000 one-off course into $1,000 a year including community and ongoing updates, while keeping the roughly $5,000 accelerator — compressed from a year to three or six months — for intensive daily team access, video feedback and coached accountability groups. Godbey validates it and sharpens the framing: one clear goal, two paths, two price points. Members can move slowly through the course alongside peers, or go much faster with the team's active daily and weekly involvement. His analogy: use the gym's equipment yourself, or work with trainers and coaches for five times the price.

“And so what we're thinking is we turn the $1,000 course into $1,000 a year community plus course that mishmash thing similar to what productivity…”
Ali Abdaal · 1:09:00

“So, it's very clear the separation for me of value.”
Jordan Godbey · 1:10:00

Tool· 1

Tool1:14:00

The nine-step community launch roadmap resource

Godbey closes by pointing to a free resource: a behind-the-scenes look at how his team designed and built Productivity Lab with Ali, structured around their nine-step community launch roadmap. It is aimed at people who want to build their own community and want the tips from a real build rather than theory. He confirms it is a free download with no strings attached, and adds that he is on Twitter and LinkedIn under his own name.

“we put together a really cool resource for people who are interested in community where it's a bit of a behind the scenes look at…”
Jordan Godbey · 1:14:00

“And they can download that for free, no strings attached.”
Jordan Godbey · 1:14:30

Takeaway· 3

Takeaway23:00

Accountability beats information: paying someone to watch your reps

Both men converge on the core hypothesis behind Productivity Lab: most people already know what to do, they just need to sit down and do it. Creating the environment and the appointment for that is itself enormous value. Godbey compares it to doing push-ups in front of a trainer at 6am when you could do them free at home — people pay someone to count the reps. Ali confirms he paid a trainer that morning and that is the only reason leg day happened. The implication for creators: teach less than you think, help people implement more.

“So, how do we create an environment, an opportunity for people just to sit down and do the work?”
Jordan Godbey · 23:00

“paid a guy to watch the reps this morning at 8:00 and it meant I did leg day, otherwise it wouldn't have happened.”
Ali Abdaal · 23:30

Takeaway52:30

Choose who you best serve — and who lights you up

Godbey frames audience selection as a pricing input: decide who you best serve, where you can create the most value, and who you most enjoy serving. Ali answers immediately — entrepreneurs at five or six figures pushing toward seven. He feels no imposter syndrome there, they share the experience of quitting a job, and their friends do not understand them. Ten years ago he loved helping medical school applicants; now he wants to be around people playing a similar game at a similar level. Godbey adds that this freedom to define the game and its rules is the point of entrepreneurship.

“So, it's up to you to really think about who do I best serve, right? Where can I create the most value for people? Who…”
Jordan Godbey · 52:30

“I really enjoy serving the entrepreneurs who are at like five or six figures wanting to get to seven.”
Ali Abdaal · 52:30

Takeaway1:02:30

A member who graduates and cancels is a success, not churn

Ali worries that annual billing hides the truth — you only learn the renewal rate twelve months later, by which point 70% of a cohort could vanish. Godbey reframes it: define the realistic length of membership. If the product installs a productivity system into someone's life, a member who internalises the habits and stops attending has succeeded. Health should be measured qualitatively on a quarterly basis — have they set their life vision, built their quarterly plan — alongside quantitative metrics, while continually filling the top of the funnel and adding forward-looking reasons to renew.

“they may not really need to continue to show up to those collective sessions. Right? And so I would actually count that as a successful…”
Jordan Godbey · 1:03:00

“So you can't just use one metric to try to measure and figure out is the business working?”
Jordan Godbey · 1:03:30

Frameworks in this episode

Align Ongoing Value with Ongoing Revenue

Billing Cadence by Outcome Horizon

The 10x Value-Based Pricing Method

The Calm Community Operating Model

The Four Community Types Grid